Oct. 6, 2020

The Mandalorian Plays Monopoly

The Mandalorian Plays Monopoly

On the sci-fi edition, The Mandalorian plays Monopoly with The Child as the prize, Frakes ponders a Q movie and not only is the balcony closed, the whole theater chin is closed.   All that and more on this edition of Multiverse Tonight!

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Transcript

Tonight! We coulda had a Q movie, The Mandalorian plays Monopoly and Harrison Ford is cleared to fly again, all that and more on the scifi edition of Multiverse Tonight!


Hello and Welcome to Episode 96 of Multiverse Tonight...




Star Trek

Q made an appearance on Star Trek Lower Decks. We could have seen him on the big screen if Jonathan Frakes had his way, during a Galaxy Con Virtual Panel, Mr. Frakes revealed that he wanted to bring John de Lancie in a Q for at least one of the movies. He had pitched the ultimate Q adventure saying quote "That was my pitch. Well, from my good fortune of getting involved with the movies. I kept saying, 'When is our finest nemesis going to be in the movies?' I'm still surprised that wasn't so." unquote John De Lancie, who was also on the panel chimed in quote"The place that they never got into it, which is too bad. Which was: What is the Continuum? Other than a road in the desert that goes on, and the shingle in the old gas station,"I actually—which I'm not going to tell people, even now—I did create a backstory on that, which would have been really interesting. But I think it's actually someplace that would require a great deal of imagination, and I think the audience would go. So I wish that they had gone there.``


SyfyWire broke the news of two new Star Trek Books focused on female characters, Revenant by Alex R White features Jadzia Dax and Kira Nerys and Shadow Have Offended by Cassandra Rose Clark with Deanna Troi, Beverly Crusher and Worf set during the seventh season of The Next Generation. On the acquisition of the two novels Senior Editor and Licensing Manager Ed Schlesinger said quote For decades, the Star Trek franchise has been at the forefront of diversity and inclusion, and we're truly thrilled to be introducing Alex's and Cassandra's distinct and acclaimed voices to the ST novel program." unquote. No words on then they will be released.


Sorry European listeners, Destination Star Trek London 2020 has been postponed to, you guessed it 2021.Just like Destination Star Trek Germany, the delay is due to the ongoing pandemic, the message on the official website reads quote "Dear Star Trek fans, We hope you are all well and have been staying safe these last few difficult months. We really have missed you! Due to the ongoing situation with Covid-19 it is with great sadness we must postpone this November's Destination Star Trek event in London. We hope you understand that our most important consideration is your health and safety and at the moment there is just no way to bring you the event that you deserve and ensure you are safe at it. So, we have decided to move Destination Star Trek to a time when we can hopefully all be together in a risk-free environment, and so enjoy the event.


"The good news is that we have a new date of 12th to 14th November 2021, where all the Covid-19 issues should be behind us and we can bring you the best Star Trek event ever! :-) We still plan to centre it around Voyager’s anniversary, since it’s not fair that we were not all able to celebrate it properly this year and we know they are still really looking forward to seeing you, as you are them! We will also be adding new guests from all corners of the Star Trek franchise, so maybe your favourite will be there, and we are always open to hearing suggestions!


"Tickets already purchased will be automatically valid for the new date and will be transferred across. You do not need to do anything else and just keep your original ticket which will be valid for the new date. If you cannot make the new date then you can get a voucher from us that you can use for any Destination Star Trek event, in Germany or the UK, or on any DST product, up until December 2021. If not used by then we will issue a straight refund to you. Please let us know at enquiries@destinationstartrek.com if you want to take a voucher rather than just have your tickets moved over to the new date. "Our aim is always to bring you the best Star Trek event we can. With a new series of Discovery coming in October we have plenty of exciting new adventures to bring us into 2021 and through to November and an event that we promise will be worth the wait! We think we will all deserve an extra special party over the event!!!! Thank you all for your patience and continued support. Live Long and Prosper."



Star Wars

Star Wars has unveiled a brand new Lightsaber inspired by King Arthur’s Excalibur in the new Star Wars The High Republic. The High Republic is the new Star Wars book and comics line and launches in 2021. THe High Republic takes place 200 years before the Skywalker Saga when the Jedi were a universal peacekeeping force. So they have lightsabers with hilts like medieval knights, of course. The caption on some new concept art says quote  "During the time of the High Republic, Jedi Master Stellan Gios ascended through the ranks of the Jedi Order as the Padawan of Jedi Master Rana Kant. As a young Padawan learner, he developed a strong connection with fellow Jedi Avar Kriss and Elzar Mann, though they were apprenticed to different masters. Gios is regularly the voice of reason amongst the three, focused on upholding the Jedi tradition.


"....Gios' lightsaber is an elegant weapon with a crossguard and a longer hilt that allows him to easily wield it with two hands like a broadsword. The crossguard's quillons point forward when the saber is not in use, and the weapon rests in a holster that leaves the saber easily accessible. the hilt features striking black, gold, and silver details. When the saber ignites, the crossguard blades push the quillions outward, forming caps to the blades and creating a secondary guard." unquote Illustration manager Jeff R. Thomas speaking to star wars dot com said about the design quote “When designing Stellan’s lightsaber, I looked at the iconic lightsabers that have already been established. He needed an iconic weapon that could stand beside the other famous lightsabers, but at the same time be unique to him and evoke the time period of the High Republic... We wanted to implement a more traditional crossguard, but I still wanted to include the saber-blade into the crossguard design, so that Stellan would be able to defend himself against saber attacks. That’s where Excalibur came into play. What would a lightsaber version of Excalibur look like?


I started sketching and came up with a silhouette I really liked, but the practicality of holstering/sheathing it nagged at me until I had the idea that the crossguard didn’t have to be stationary. Perhaps it could activate or deactivate with the saber. So after some more sketches and some back and forth with Lucasfilm, it was decided that the crossguard would activate as opposed to always being open, which would give the saber the slimmer silhouette while holstered and would lend itself to some great visuals when activating." unquote 


The Mandalorian merchandising machine moves on. This time Hasbro brings us, Star Wars The Mandalorian Monopoly, this is different from the Child edition of Monopoly which was announced back in May.


Mandalorian Monopoly is out now and allows you to play as The Mandalorian , Cara Dune IG-11 or Kuiil , each with special abilities. Like standard monopoly the player with the most credits wins, but it’s a bit different, here’s the amazon description quote INSPIRED BY THE TV SERIES: This Monopoly: Star Wars The Mandalorian edition board game is inspired by the The Mandalorian live-action TV series on Disney Plus

MONOPOLY TOKENS: The Mandalorian fans can play as a favorite character from the series: The Mandalorian, Cara Dune, IG-11, or Kuiil. Each character has a special ability depicted on their Character card

THE CHILD: When a player passes or lands on The Child's space, (the character who fans call "Baby Yoda") they take the Child token and can use their character's ability plus The Child's unique ability

BATTLE IMPERIAL ENEMIES: Includes an Incinerator Stormtrooper, Death Trooper, and Moff Gideon enemy tokens that can change gameplay and lead to battles. If an Imperial enemy gets The Child, game's over

BUY HIDEOUTS: Buy hideouts and earn Imperial credits by charging rent unquote 

The game costs 39.99.


Season two of The Mandalorian is coming next month and Jon Favreau is already writing season three, well according to star Giancarlo Esposito it could go a little longer than that. Speaking With People Magazine  he said quote “We’re living in a universe that is huge and there’s so much to explore, so I think this show is going to lay the groundwork for the depth and breath that’s gonna come in Season Three and Season Four, where you’re really gonna start to get answers,” unquote So at least four seasons. Think they’ll stop there or maybe do a movie.


The FAA has officially closed the books on Harrison Ford’s oopsy daisy earlier  this year at the Hawthorne Airport in Los angeles. To remind you of what happened, Mister Ford’s plane crossed a runway while another place was about to take off. According to the FAA statement shared with The Hollywood reporter quote "The FAA has closed the case involving the pilot who crossed a Hawthorne Municipal Airport runway without authorization on April 24, 2020. The FAA required the pilot to take a remedial runway incursion training course. When the pilot successfully completed the course, the FAA closed the case with no additional action," "Mr. Ford crossed the airport's only runway in his aircraft after he misheard a radio instruction from ATC," Ford's statement read. "He immediately acknowledged the mistake and apologized to ATC for the error. The purpose of the flight was to maintain currency and proficiency in the aircraft. No one was injured and there was never any danger of a collision." unquote Harrison Ford is 78 and if he stops flying he might make it to 79.


ShopDisney dot com has limited edition apparel and lightsabers from Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge now available for sale you’ll find both adult and kid size robes and tunics and lightsaber replicas, t-shirts, pins and accessories. But move fast, one these sell out they are gone for good. 


Geek

Amazon has shown off it’s new streaming service Luna. The service which has rolled out for early access in the US doesn’t do lengthy downloads, so that a game will start as easily as a Netflix movie. Luna will also have a special curated Channel called Luna Plus that will give subscribers early access to new titles for only six dollars a month.

 Like resident Evil seven, Control and Panzer Dragoon. Ubisoft will also offer titles like FarCry 5 on the platform on the day of the games launch.

Amazon owned  Streaming service Twitch will be integrated into the service and will allow players to easily stream games. 

Luna will also work across devices including Fire TV PC, MAc and iOS with Android coming soon. Players can use a keyboard mouse or bluetooth controller or you can buy Amazon’s own controller for fifty dollars.


According to James Comeron, Avatar 2 has finished filming and Avatar 3 is 95 percent complete, the director revealed this during a video chat with Arnold Schwarzennegger during the 2020 Austrian World Summit. He told the summit quote “COVID hit us like it hit everybody,” he said. “We lost about four and a half months of production. As a result of that, we’ve rolled around one more full year for a release in December of 2022. That’s been announced already.”“Now that doesn’t mean I have an extra year to finish the film because the day we deliver ‘Avatar 2,’ we’ll just start working on finishing ‘Avatar 3,'' Cameron said. “So where we are right now, I’m down in New Zealand shooting, we’re shooting the remainder of the live-action. We’ve got about 10% left to go. We’re 100% complete on ‘Avatar 2’ and we’re sort of 95% complete with ‘Avatar 3.'”“Avatar 2” set for Dec. 16, 2022; “Avatar 3” slated for Dec. 20, 2024; “Avatar 4” to debut on Dec. 18, 2026; and “Avatar 5” on Dec. 22, 2028. I gotta say, good idea on spacing them out makes sure people aren't tired of the franchise by the time the last one comes out.


The Hot Wheels movie now has writers. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Neil Widener and Gavin James have been tapped to write the movie based on the Mattel toy car line. No further details on what kind of plot you get from Hot Wheels or any other detail for that matter.


Cineworld, the parent company of US based Regal Cinemas is sitting out  the rest of 2020 and closing all of it’s theaters until 2021. This comes in response to MGM deciding to hold off on releasing the new James Bond film, No Time To Die until next April, it was expected to be released next month. Regal is the second biggest theater chain in the US and these closures will impact 28, 000 US and 5,500 UK employees. Cineworld confirmed this with a statement on Monday quote In response to an increasingly challenging theatrical landscape and sustained key market closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cineworld confirms that it will be temporarily suspending operations at all of its 536 Regal theatres in the U.S. and its 127 Cineworld and Picturehouse theaters in the U.K. from Thursday, 8 October 2020.” Unquote 


No word on any particular reopening date.


I wouldn't blame them if they did as the box office recovery has kind of collapsed. With very little new movies on the market, Christopher Nolan's Tenet was almost beaten by the 1993 Halloween classic Hocus Pocus.


Game of Thrones actor Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson and his wife Kelsey Henson have welcomed their first child together, a baby boy.  His wife announced via Instagram quote

 "Our beautiful baby boy made his grand entrance into the world at 11:19 AM on September 26th 2020 after a short and intense six hours. 3530 grams and 52 cm. The birth was the most powerful, life changing, empowering thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. We are all doing well and settling in at home as three!" unquote Congrats to the happy couple. The mountain now has a hill.


This story is bizarre, an unknown attacker punched actor Rick Moranis in Manhattan’s upper west side last week. The NYPD says that footage of the attack shows that the actor was simply walking by when the individual punched him in the head sending him to the ground. The sixty seven year old Mr. Moranis, went to the hospital afterwards and reported pain in the head, back and hip. The NYPD has put a 2500 dollar reward for any info that leads to the arrest of the assailant.


Emmy Winning Producer Kevin Burns who guided the 2006 remake of The Poseidon Adventure and Netflix’s Lost in space reboot has died. Kevin’s company Prometheus Entertainment made the History series Ancient Aliens, Food Paradise, The Un Xplained with William Shatner, The Curse of Oak Island and other shows. He won a primetime Emmy in 2002 for the rebooted Biography and a daytime Emmy in 2003 for Hollywood Rocke The Movies The 1970, hosted by David Bowie. bBurns produced over 800 hours of TV during his career, he passed away from a heart attack at the age of 85.


And that brings us to the end of the scifi news. *Show Ender*

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Thanks for watching the SciFi edition of Multiverse Tonight,  we will be back in two weeks with the comic book edition. Now please exit the universe in an orderly fashion. Good Night!  Multiverse Tonight is a production of Half-Baked Genre Productions. Copyright 2020  All Rights Reserved.